“Cheyenne” Charges On–One Cape Down (Two to Go): Cheyenne is still powering along, racking up another 500-plus mile day and in the early morning hours passing the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope, the first of the three Great Capes on the round-the-world tour. Next up is Cape Leeuwin, at the southwest corner of Australia, and then it’s on to Cape Horn. Cheyenne sailed from Ushant in the English Channel to the Cape of Good Hope in 17 days, 23 hours, 29 minutes. (Click here for a chart of their current position). That’s faster than Orange I in 2002, which took 18 days, 18 hours, 40 minutes, and Fossett reckons he is about 430 miles ahead at the moment (the record for Ushant-Good Hope, though, was set by Geronimo in 2003, at 16 days, 35 minutes). Significantly, Cheyenne (at 46/47 degrees South) is much further south than either Geronimo or Orange I were at this point (Geronimo was at 40 degrees South and Orange was at 38 degrees South). That’s almost 400 miles closer to the Pole, which translates into a shorter track to Cape Horn as the longitude lines squeeze together the further south you go. Of course, that also means Cheyenne is sailing closer to the Southern Ocean storm track. But for the moment this strategy makes a lot of sense because Fossett and navigator Adrienne Cahalan are running from the light air trap of a high pressure system that is reaching out toward them from Good Hope. They’ll cash in big time if they succeed, according to Cheyenne’s weather router, Ken Campbell of Commanders Weather: “Winds are still excellent, but it is important that they keep getting South over the next 18-24 hrs – to manage the area of High Pressure coming SE from the Cape and get to the best wind. The sweet spot will be at between 47 and 48 degrees S. If they can get there, they’ll be cooking – and should really bomb eastwards for the next 3 days at least.”



“Hey, Steve, this southern route is great. It’s shorter…and we’ve got ice for our cocktails.”

(Photo: Nick Leggatt)